Camping has been, and remains, a popular form of outdoor recreation for individuals and families. One day excursions for picnics, fishing trips or sightseeing, as well as multi-day vacation trips, frequently require the preparation of at least one meal out-of-doors. Although the more modern camping equipment such as trailers, pop-up tents and the like frequently have built in gas stoves, a substantial number of campers, hikers and backpackers prefer to cook their meals over an open campfire while camping. The campfire provides a source of heat to warm the campers, and often becomes the focal point of campsite activity. For many outdoor enthusiasts, the open campfire creates the atmosphere which attracts them to camping for recreation.
Publicly owned and privately owned campgrounds frequently provide fireplaces in which a campfire can be built, and the fireplace normally has a grill on which cooking utensils can be placed during the preparation of a meal. While the typical outdoor fireplace provides a suitable location and device in which to build a fire, the fireplace often is less than ideally suited for the preparation of a meal. Normally, the grills are attached permanently to the walls of the firebox, and although the grill may be hinged along one edge to facilitate the addition of wood and the removal of ashes, normally the grill is not adjustable to various cooking heights. It is desirable in cooking over an open fire to move the cooking pans in relation to the fire, either vertically to move the pans closer to or further from the fire directly thereunder, or horizontally to move the pans away from the fire to keep warm. The heat from a campfire is relatively difficult to control, and the intensity of heat from the fire depends on the type of wood being used in the fire, the moisture in the wood, and the skill of the camper in controlling the fire. Moving the pans relative to the fire compensates for variations in heat from the fire.
Even in those camping facilities in which campfire fireplaces are provided, it is not uncommon that some campsites will share a single fireplace, thus making it inconvenient for the campers at the two sites to prepare meals simultaneously. Especially in public campgrounds, the fireplace may fall into a state of disrepair, making the use thereof difficult, if not entirely impossible. Some camping facilities, such as beaches where open campfires are permitted, have no specific locations for fires. Likewise, the wilderness camper or hiker will not normally have outdoor fireplaces at his disposal. Thus, many outdoor enthusiasts carry apparatus for cooking over open fires built on the ground. In many instances this apparatus consists only of a grill with legs to hold the cooking area of the grill above the campfire. These devices provide little, if any, adjustability of the cooking surface in relation to the campfire. Most of these devices also do not provide any type of containment for the fire itself but are merely a grill with supporting structure to hold the grill above the fire; thus, the wind can blow ashes from the fire and make controlling the fire more difficult. Since packing space is normally at a premium for campers, backpackers and the like, prior to this time it has been impractical to carry an enclosed campfire fireplace to the campsite.